


Sunrise

by Ambulz



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Implied/Referenced Torture, Nightmares, Past Child Abuse, Pre-Time Skip, Sleep Deprivation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 17:21:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20933900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ambulz/pseuds/Ambulz
Summary: (Post-Chapter 7)Edelgard startles in the middle of the night and can't shake her usual demons. Some fresh air is in order.





	Sunrise

Three hours ago, he had said,

“Well then, Lady Edelgard, I bid you a good night.”

Then he raised his head from his customary bow, turned on his heel and left. Edelgard idly watched Hubert go from his place at her door back down the hallway of the dormitory to his own quarters. It was already roughly three hours past midnight then. Edelgard had awoken with a start, sweat on her brow, cold, internally cursing herself once the shock of the nightmare dissipated. No sooner after considering the possibility that she had made any compromising noises in her sleep, a rapping faint enough to elude the notice of sleeping neighbors came from her door.

One measured, precise knock, followed by a beat then two more in short succession signaled to Edelgard that her servant had arrived to attend to her discreetly. She had taken a moment to respond, briefly entertaining to ignore his presence altogether on account of shame he had heard her—whatever ungodly and frightful noise he’d heard to elicit his immediate dispatch—before realizing it would be best to assuage whatever unease he must be feeling from undoubtedly hearing his master and future emperor in unconscious distress. 

True to her expectations, Hubert stood before her when she opened the door, and he gave his familiar courteous bow. Already Edelgard felt much more at ease, but he knew as well as her how much she loathed appearing the least bit vulnerable to anybody, her most loyal and trusted follower included. Nevertheless, her pale hands, shaking and rattled by the intensity of her nightmare, had betrayed whatever front of pride she could attempt to muster at that time of night.

“You may come in,” she had said.

Hubert’s presence calmed her somewhat, even when there was very little conversation between the two of them. Edelgard saw little therapeutic use in speaking of her nightmares even to those she trusted, which Hubert never once thought to question. She figured such a tactic only proved effective when the stuff of wicked dreams spawned from the imagination manifesting subconscious turmoils and not vivid recitations of a past marred with bloody trauma, all too real. By the time Hubert left, Edelgard still felt the ghost of her anxiety grasping at her heart despite herself. As she reflexively clenched and unclenched her hand, she realized the barest hint of morning illumination beginning to languidly crawl through her window. Another night of sleep spirited away, she mused.

“A walk might do some good after all.”

Blinking the drowse from her eyes, Edelgard changed from her long white nightgown into her House leader uniform, an appreciable process even to the accustomed. She once again considered the window. Even as dawn light gradually made itself known, she knew the possibility of other students being up and about at this hour was rare. Curfew for students at the Officer’s Academy forbade anyone from wandering into the monastery proper past a certain time of night into the morning outside of special occasions like holidays and festivals. Edelgard knew there were few places she could go beyond the campus and around the monastery where nightly perimeter patrols by the Knights of Seiros wouldn’t spot her and persuade her back to her quarters, and in her exhausted state, she saw little reason to muster the effort necessary to traipse about the grounds furtively.

Now that the weather was settled firmly into autumn, early mornings seldom offered much in the way of pleasantness. Edelgard pulled the cuffs of her gloves tighter to her wrists instinctively as she stepped out into the courtyard in front of the dormitory building. The mist of burgeoning twilight from off of the dewy mountainsides surrounding the monastery cast a shroud over the campus grounds like a sleeping spell. Quickly surveying the area, Edelgard saw no other soul—neither student nor guardsman—strolling about.

Unsurprising, she thought. With the Battle of the Eagle and Lion now behind them, the students of each House seemed to revel in any opportunity to rest since that the pressures of preparations, battle plans, and making a show of modeling exemplary pride for their respective nations were lifted, to say nothing of the physical toll of the battle itself. Thanks to the guidance of Professor Byleth, the Black Eagle House earned a decisive victory. Edelgard’s mind absently wandered back to the events of the previous night, in the midst of celebration after the battle.

“Now I wish only for your continued guidance during my eventual reign,” she had said. She didn’t know whether it was a blessing or a curse that the conversation had been cut short just after that moment, since she only now measured the gravity of such a statement.

It was a selfish request, and she knew not whether it was even in the realm of possibility considering the Professor’s own circumstances and obligations. Nonetheless, it was what she wanted. She had spoken true to herself and her desires, perhaps for the first time without the burden of half-truths and omissions for quite a while. However, when she thought rationally about it, Edelgard knew that with every stride she made towards her ultimate destiny, the greater the chance that the Professor would be lost along the way. Yet another sacrifice. She had already betrayed her trust, even if she didn’t know it yet, and still she would make such conceited demands? 

Just then, the clouds above the pond parted, letting in more light and parting more of the mist. From the staircase in front of the greenhouse, Edelgard spotted her, which gave her pause.

Stood at the end of the dock, Professor Byleth cast a line from her fishing rod. From her current angle, Edelgard couldn’t parse her expression. She stood resolute, rock steady and silent. She held the rod in her hands out in front of her not dissimilar to how she held her sword, and for a moment Edelgard pondered about the resolute peacefulness of the scene, and of her. That stoicism she so admired. The fey aura of the woman to whom she felt so attached. In spite of everything—what had since long past, what was surely to come—there was only the now to consider.

The Professor suddenly pulled in her line. Turning to consider it without a catch and without her bait, the Professor looked somewhat bemused, which Edelgard couldn’t help but find amusing in turn.

The Professor turned around, and the sun’s rays finally peaked over the outer walls and reached through the mist to illuminate her form. Amethyst and turquoise eyes met from across the way, shining brilliantly with acknowledgment. Then the older woman smiled. Edelgard suddenly became aware of the slight strain in her own cheeks as well as their growing warmth. Beneath her hand, her heart swelled.

The colors of sunrise washed over the monastery grounds and dispelled all traces of nightmares. Phantom doubts were cast aside. 

So long as she’s there.

“So long as you’re with me...”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey I'm new here. This was part of a one-hour prompt on my discord server, so it was definitely rushed and a bit under-developed.
> 
> I might make more stuff down the line who knows
> 
> hi


End file.
